Utah man abandoned disabled son on freeway, charges say

Salt Lake City, Utah (KSL) — A Sandy man was charged Tuesday with abandoning his disabled adult son on the side of a busy freeway.

Steven Warner Cuff, 66, is charged in 3rd District Court with aggravated abuse of a vulnerable adult, a second-degree felony.

KSL.com reports on Dec. 6, Cuff “intentionally” dropped off his 36-year-old son along the side of I-215 “and left him there,” according to charging documents. The son has a mental capacity of a 2-year-old, according to Cuff.

Doctors also confirmed the son is “classified as severely intellectually disabled and is unable to provide for his own safety,” the charges state.

Cuff told police that “he and his wife no longer want” their adopted son, and “did not indicate that he had any intention on going back and picking (the son) back up off the freeway,” according to court documents.

The man was found by Utah Highway Patrol troopers who responded to multiple calls of a man standing on the side of I-215 “who appeared to be disabled” and who “might walk into traffic,” the charging documents state.

Cuff also stated that his son “does not know how to cross the road safely,” according to the charges.

While officers were interviewing Cuff, troopers asked the man’s son to go into the house. That’s when Cuff got behind his son “and with both hands pushed him with as much force as he could muster towards the house and told him to go inside,” the charges state.